With the help of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, Australia will lead the world in a $100 million mission to beat brain cancer, double survival rates in ten years, and improve patients’ quality of life.

Called the ‘Australian Brain Cancer Mission’, the plan to increase survival is the result of a collaboration between Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, the Federal Government, and Minderoo Foundation’s ‘Eliminate Cancer Initiative’, in consultation with the world’s best research minds.

It follows a sustained advocacy campaign by Cure Brain Cancer Foundation to make brain cancer a national priority, with a greater share of government focus and funding for the “forgotten cancer”.

Brain cancer kills more children than any other
disease and more adults under 40 than any other cancer. Worse still, survival
rates have languished at an unacceptable 20 per cent for more than 30 years.

The Australian
Brain Cancer Mission aims to rapidly change this with a ten-year roadmap, established with the help of Cure Brian Cancer Foundation, in consultation with the nation’s best research minds, following a major roundtable meeting, hosted by Minister for Health, Greg Hunt MP, in August.

The Mission will bolster patients’ access to clinical trials and accelerate the discovery of new therapies by expanding research platforms and technologies, and equipping researchers with the best tools and infrastructure.

As part of this, Cure Brain Cancer Foundation today committed $1 million* to ensure Australians will be among the first to benefit from GBM AGILE – a revolutionary new system to test potential brain cancer therapies and deliver better treatments faster.

The
Eliminate Cancer Initiative is also committed to this world-class research system that will cut red tape, and give Australian patients access to new treatments much faster than traditional clinical trials.

"Cure Brain Cancer Foundation has worked long and hard in calling for brain cancer to receive more focus and funding,” said Michelle Stewart, CEO of Cure Brain
Cancer Foundation.

“Today our calls have finally been heard. Although not quick enough for some, the long road to a cure just got shorter with this game-changer for people with brain cancer. The Australian Brain Cancer Mission will deliver record levels of focus
and funding, which we know have led to dramatic increases in survival for other
cancers.

“This shows how much more can be achieved by working as a team and not going it alone. But we have a huge task ahead and until we find a cure, no amount of money will be enough, so we must continue to raise funds for world-class research to accelerate treatments to Australian children and adults with brain cancer.”

“I deeply thank the Federal Government, the Eliminate Cancer Initiative, and members of the brain cancer community such as the incredible Dustin Perry for their courage and leadership. You have given new hope to people living with brain cancer. In the true spirit of collaboration, the door is wide open for others to join us on this important mission.”

Minister for Health, Greg Hunt MP said, “Brain cancer affects many Australian adults of all ages, but it disproportionately affects children and we lose a classroom of kids each year to brain cancer. This is an unacceptable statistic that must be reversed.”

“Our goal is to confine brain cancer mortality to the history books of time and we are aiming to replicate the success of our fight on other cancers such as leukaemia.”

The Australian Brain Cancer Mission will launch with an initial collaboration comprising $50 million from the Australian Federal Government, a $20 million commitment from Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, and $10 million from Minderoo Foundation’s Eliminate
Cancer Initiative. The other $20 million will be raised over the coming
years.